Only Owe Love

Today's reading: Romans 13-16

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 13: 8 NRSV

Recently, my church looked out getting out of debt. We did this by looking at what it takes to get ourselves out of owing any people or company money. We used scripture as a basis. But we didn't stop there; we also saw how Jesus has paid our debts for us and asked what we needed to do to be debt free.

One thing Paul is trying to argue in this letter to the church in Rome is that getting out of monetary debt isn't enough for God. We should not borrow from other people. Borrowing money affects our relationship with them. How can you relax around someone else if you owe them money? And can we truly be on equal footing with others if they have "floated us a loan?"

I had an aunt that was always trying to borrow money from my parents. In fact, the only time she contacted us was to ask for money. To say that there was no love between my mother and her younger sister is not exactly true. But my mother dreaded being around her as she knew at some point in the conversation asking for money would come up. And my aunt always said she would pay them back. But, of course, she never did.

The only thing we need to owe others is love. We may still owe them that love but that is okay. We can keep trying to pay up and we may never be 100%. What is important is that God does not want us to owe any other person anything but love.

God, help us not to borrow from anyone. Help us to learn to love others so that the only thing we owe them is our love. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Copyright 2010 Amelia G. Sims